The Legacy of the Dragon
by Xyder
Summary: AU. Tai Lung left the Jade Palace after losing to Oogway. 20 years later he returns as a changed man with friends he has collected during his travels. What will this mean to the Valley of Peace


Just to remind, I don't own the Kung Fu Panda

* * *

Tai Lung walked through the Jade Palace ground, breaking down everything getting in his way. Breaking down the doors to the training grounds he saw a training dummy, remembering the time he first punched it at the age of three.

"Why can't he accept me?" He wondered aloud kicking the dummy away. Looking at the silent obstacle course he jumped into it, passing it like nothing.

"I have done everything I can to become the dragon warrior, and the only thing he says is that my heart has too much darkness! Twenty years, twenty years of practice! For nothing!" He broke one of the moving spikes, a piece of which hit a shelf on the other side of the room. A scroll dropped at Tai Lung's feet. Lifting it, he looked at the shelf. All the styles and techniques learned from them

"I've mastered every single scroll of kung fu! There are one thousand of these things, ONE THOUSAND!" In frustration he threw the scroll at full force to the shelf, breaking it. "Even master Oogway hasn't mastered them all and he still won't accept me!"

His frustation continuing, Tai lung looked outside, seeing the lights of the valley from the sky. His mind filling with rage yet again, he jumped on his feet and started running towards the stairs leading to the village.

"If I cannot have the scroll through acceptance, I'll take it by force. Let's see how much resistance that old tortoise puts, when I demolish the village to the GROUND!" He screamed preparing to leap. But suddenly he stopped. Trying to calm himself down, he looked at his hand.

"No, trying to kill everyone is not the answer" He thought. "If i did that, I would just prove right master Oogway's suspicions. Coming to think of it, could it be that this anger and fury is that darkness. Still I want to have that scroll. Hmm. Well I could try it."

Tai Lung sat into a Lotus position, closing his eyes. He had to prepare himself to execute his plan.

* * *

Oogway was performing the final movements of his yoga, when Tai Lung entered the chamber. Tortoise stopped his movement and looked at the Leopard.

"If this is about that scroll, I haven't changed my mind" He said.

"Though this is about scroll, I have a different kind of request" Tai Lung explained calmly. "I want to challenge you to a duel, Master Oogway, here and now. We will not use lethal or crippling techniques and the fist one to fall down is winner. If I win, you'll accept me as the dragon warrior.

"And if I win?" Oogway asked.

"I will leave the palace" The tortoise gave a confused look to Tai Lung's answer. "My loss will prove not only that I'm not worthy of having the dragon scroll, but my training went on a wrong way. So, will you accept my challenge."

"Yes" Oogway answered. The moment he had answered, Tai Lung rushed towards him. Oogway jumped on his back, and stroke certain parts of his body with his fingers. Leopard fell to the ground and the fight was over.

"So I'm not worthy of having the dragon scroll" Tai Lung said rising to his feet. He bowed to master Oogway. "Thank you master Oogway. But now I must leave"

"You know Tai Lung." Oogway said. "When I say you have darkness in your heart, I don't mean that you are rotten to the core. You just have followed the wrong path of life. What you need to do is to find your own path."

"Then that is what I shall do" Tai Lung answered.

Soon Tai Lung had packed everything he believed necessary during his journey and put on his travelling gear. When he arrived to the stairs, Shifu was waiting. He passed the Red Panda without looking.

"Where are you going?" Shifu asked, making Tai Lung look at him.

"Somewhere I can find a teacher." He answered. Though he spoke calmly, his face showed anger. "A real teacher. One that will not fill my heart with darkness" And he continued his walking, not looking back.

* * *

When he was passing the sleeping village, he saw another person. A female hawk older than him, but younger than Shifu, though Tai Lung couldn't say the actual years, zig-zagged the alley in frustration. She was also wearing travelling clothes, though her clothes seemed better fitting to a male than a female.

"Excuse me." Tai Lung asked, drawing hawk's attention. "Are you waiting for someone?"

"I was" She answered angrily. "Me and my lover were supposed to leave tonight to travel across China, but he chickened out and said that his place is here."

"You know." Tai Lung continued. "I was also going to travel. What would you say about travelling together"

"Well I could consider it" Hawk answered. "Though I would prefer to know better my future companion. I am Wing Chun, tofu maker and a master of a Kung Fu-style named after myself.

"A _Spring Chant_, eh" Tai Lung though after hearing Wing Chun's name. "My name is Tai Lung. I also practice kung fu. In fact I've managed to learn all one thousand scrolls of Kung Fu."

"Ah-ah-ah! All one thousand scrolls of _Shaolin_." Wing Chun corrected.

"Shaolin?" Tai Lung asked in curiosity.

Wing Chun sighed. "You valley folk truly have vague knowledge of the outside world. The jade palace teaches mostly Shaolin Kung Fu-styles. After all the founder of the jade palace, Master Oogway, was a travelling Shaolin monk, who came to live in this village and taught it to others. In reality there are so many styles of Kung Fu that one animal could never learn them all."

Tai Lung though about Wing Chun's words in amazement. He had known there were several styles of kung fu, but the idea of all the knowledge of Jade Palace being only a fraction of all about kung fu hadn't crossed his mind before. On the other hand he had never heard about Wing Chun kung fu, so the hawk might as well tell the truth. Well, there was only one way to find out.

"Don't take this offensively, Wing Chun" Tai Lung explained. "But I would like to know if what you say about this kung fu of yours is true. I will attack you a couple of times, and you try to fight back as well as you can. Don't worry, I will go easy on you."

"So will I" Wing Chun answered.

Tai Lung struck with his paw, which Wing Chun directed away with her wing. Then Tai Lung gave a series of punches, all of which she moved away.

"You may be good at blocking, but you will also need to attack" Tai lung had barely managed to finish when he felt a punch hit his shoulder. Though Tai Lung kept striking, he couldn't land a hit, while Wing Chun hit again and again. Finally she pushed his arms away and gave a series of punches to his chest, knocking the leaopard down. Tai Lung rose up panting.

"How could you (pant pant) defeat me" He asked exhausted.

"(pant pant) Believe me it wasn't (pant pant) easy. Especially when we both stopped (pant pant) going easy." Wing Chun explained. "What I can tell you is this. Your style relies almost completely on offensive, like shaolin arts usually do, so I was expecting you to go onto the offensive. You don't block or use stances like I do, and you pull your elbow behind your body when you punch, while I keep my wings in front of my chest for a better defence, so my punches have less distance to travel. Also I'm much smaller than you so I'm not that easy to hit."

"Oh, now I got it" Tai Lung said chuckling "You used your smaller size to get too close for my long arms to hit accurately, easily blocking them. If I had kept you at a distance I could have won."

"You're a smart boy" Wing Chun commented smiling "Though you have lived your entire life in this valley, while I have travelled across the China for years, so you're a little unfamiliar with non-shaolin kung fu. Not to mention that I am at least ten years older than you are."

"Well, now I know exactly what I'm going to do" Tai Lung said. "I'll travel across China seeking Kung Fu masters to teach me their styles. And when I return, I will be worthy of becoming the dragon warrior."

"In that case you should propably also learn about the philosophies of kung fu as well." Wing Chun suggested. "For becoming something that great will also require mental growth."

"You are right, Wing Chun. And I know exactly, who is the first person to teach me these things." Tai Lung said bowing to Wing Chun. "What do you say, master Wing Chun?"

Wing Chun thought about it for a moment. She had never taught anyone, so she wasn't exactly sure if it would work. "Well, I could give it a try" She finally said. "Just remember that you are my first student ever, so I may not be that good at teaching."

"It doesn't matter" Tai Lung commented. "My former teacher also made mistakes. Though maybe we should already start for a search for the next teacher. Would you happen to know anyone?"

"Well, I met this one horse in Fushan" Wing Chun remembered. "He is called Dr. Wong. He practises Hung Gar, and it is said he can kick so fast his hoof leaves no shadow. I have never actually seen him use this technique, but I have seen him use an umbrella as a weapon, rather effectively if you ask me. Let's go find him. But first I think we should find some place to sleep. We'll star our travel tomorrow."

And so Tai Lung left the place he had lived his entire life, not returning until 20 years later.


End file.
